1. Several Issues to Consider
Synthesis Essay
Several Issues to Consider

2. Use the Question
Synthesis questions on the AP Exam feature a paragraph of introductory information. This introduction contextualizes the issue and offers potential approaches for your argument.
WORK THE PROMPT:
Underline key words and phrases in the prompt that must be considered in order to effectively construct a properly focused argument.
Make sure you consider your options before beginning to write.
Pay attention to the instructive final paragraph:
Make sure that your argument is central; use the sources to illustrate and support your reasoning. Avoid merely
summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources you are drawing from, whether through direct quotation,
paraphrase, or summary. You may cite the sources as Source A, Source B, etc., or by using the descriptions in parentheses.

3. Introduction HOOK Hook the reader:
Provide general background information.
Open with a strong, provocative statement.
Provide an unusual detail.
Catch them with a quotation.
Start with a story. (anecdote)
Open with description.
Provide a meaningful statistic or fact.
Ask a question. (rhetorical question)
Start with a statement recognizing the opposition (what others falsely believe). Then use your thesis statement to provide your argument (the correct information).

4. Introduction (continued)
THESIS
The thesis is your essay’s most significant statement.
Without a clear and achievable thesis, your essay is rudderless You may, in fact, provide some interesting information and valid points, but the information of the essay must serve the verification of the promise made, the claim established in your thesis statement.
Craft the statement carefully. Make a clear claim you intend to prove with evidence.

5. Introduction (continued)
PREVIEW OF EVIDENCE
The introduction should set up the argument to follow. Make your job easy. Provide a blueprint for the body of your essay.
Don’t overdo it!
Save some thunder for the body paragraphs. While you are hinting at the topics the essay will address in proving the claim made by the thesis statement, you should not provide specifics or begin the unfolding of evidence in the introduction.
Craft the introduction. Make it perfect.

6. Each paragraph an essay…
Open each body paragraph with a clear topic sentence.
Follow the topic sentence (the sub-claim) with evidence:
Facts
Statistics
Quotes
Examples
Conclude each body paragraph by tying the topic and evidence to the essay’s thesis (major claim).

7. Unity and Flow When given time to write an essay:
Write with energy and focus. Eliminate distractions.
Focus on clarity.
Make sure that all of the ideas work together. Remember your thesis.
Each sentence is an opportunity to move the audience. Craft each sentence as a purposeful statement that builds on that which it follows and sets up what’s to come.
READ ALOUD. If you want to become a better writer, employ more of your natural gifts. Listen.

8. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement
Examples of common errors:
The quote also explains that the teacher needs to teach their students how to learn, not what to learn.
In order for the student to feel at ease with their surroundings, they must first feel comfortable with their teacher.
Any teacher can establish goals for their students, but if the student does not think learning is worthwhile, they will simply ignore teachers.

9. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement (cont.)
A pronoun is the word the takes the place of a noun and functions in the same ways that nouns do.
The critique of Plato’s Republic was written from a contemporary point of view. It was an in- depth analysis of Plato’s opinions about possible governmental forms.

10. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement (cont.)
 An antecedent is the noun or pronoun to which a pronoun refers.
The critique of Plato’s Republic was written from a contemporary point of view. It was an in- depth analysis of Plato’s opinions about possible governmental forms.

11. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement (cont.)
While the pronouns I and you can be replaced by nouns, the context of a sentence does not always require the nouns to make clear to which persons I and you refer. However, the third person pronouns (he, she, it, they) almost always derive their meaning from their antecedents. Remember that pronouns in the third person communicate nothing unless the reader knows what they mean:
It is the best source available.
What source is that?

12. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement (cont.)
 A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in three ways: Person, Number, and Gender.
Person
Incorrect: If a person wants to succeed in high school, you have to know the rules of the game.
(Although the antecedent and the pronoun agree in number, they do not agree in person.)
Correct: (Change the 2nd person singular, you, to a 3rd person singular pronoun.) If a person wants
to succeed in high school, he or she has to know the rules of the game.
Correct: (Change the 3rd person singular antecedent, a person, to a second person singular
antecedent.) If you want to succeed in high school, you have to know the rules of the game.

13. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement (cont.)
 A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in three ways: Person, Number, and Gender.
Number
 Incorrect: If a student wants to succeed in high school, they have to know the rules of the game.
(Although the antecedent and pronoun agree in person, they do not agree in number.)
Correct: (Make the antecedent plural.) If students want to succeed in high school, they have to know
the rules of the game.
Correct: (Make the pronoun singular.) If a student wants to succeed in high school, he or she has to
know the rules of the game.

14. Pronoun Antecedent Agreement (cont.)
 A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in three ways: Person, Number, and Gender.
Gender (subject to debate)
Incorrect: If a person wants to succeed in high school, he has to know the rules of the game. (Even
though there is person and number agreement between the antecedent, a person, and the pronoun, he, there
is no gender agreement; in other words, the language is sexist.)
Correct: (Replace the pronoun, he, with he or she.) If a person wants to succeed in high school, he or
she has to know the rules of the game.
Correct: (Make the entire sentence plural.) If people want to succeed in high school, they have to know
the rules of the game.

15. Write! TO WRITE IS TO ACT. Necessary ACTION:
Think about what you want to write and how you want to write it.
Write it clearly and confidently.
Read (aloud) what you have written.
Revise to the most moving version of your intentional argument.
Finalize.
Print.
Staple.
Smile.